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Che Gospel 
Among the Garos 
A Descriptive and Historical Sketch 


of the Garo Mission 
of Assam 


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AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION 
BOSTON, MASS. 


_ ACKNOWLEDGMENT 


OR the material upon which this sketch is based 

we are indebted to Mrs. W. C. Mason and Rev. 
E. G. Phillips, D.D., of our mission at Tura. 

For the illustrations we acknowledge our obliga- 
tion to the missionaries who furnished the photo- 
graphs from which they were made. 


TYPICAL GARO HOMES 


THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


ais HE Garo Hills form a small district of the new province 
of British India named Eastern Bengal and Assam, and 
cover a territory about as large as the state of Rhode Island. 
These hills are the eastern end of the range. of mountains be- 
tween Assam and Bengal, around which the Brahmaputra 
sweeps as it turns south towards the Ganges and the ocean. 
The whole district is rugged and hilly, and travel, except on the 
few government roads, is very difficult, most of the roads being 
mere footpaths through the forests or thick jungle growth. 
These paths run over steep, high hills, and often along the beds 
of streams, and are in many places almost impassable for ponies. 

Although the district lies just outside the tropics, the cli- 
mate is tropical. During the rainy season, June to September, 
the average annual rainfall is about 125 inches. The footpaths 
become densely overgrown, the mountain streams become tor- 
rents and work outside the station is difficult. This season is de- 
voted to school and literary work in the station and the super- 
vision of district work by correspondence. The dry, delightful 
cool season, is spent in work in the villages. The climate can 
hardly be called salubrious. The population suffer much from 
malaria. With great care the missionaries escape this disease 
most of the time, 

The Garos number about 164,000, of whom 110,000 are in 
their own hills. Most of the remainder are on the adjacent 
plains of Assam and Bengal, while some are scattered afar. 
They belong to a general race family of whom the Nagas, 


4 THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


Singphos and other tribes form a _ part. There is 
a tradition that they came originally from Tibet, and 
they have certain facial characteristics that are distinctly Mon- 
golian. They are short and_ stocky, 
with small black eyes, dark skin, and 
broad, flat noses. They are very 
muscular, for they are great hill 
climbers. In religion they are ani- 
mists, worshiping not idols, but evil 
spirits, called mutes, which, they be- 
lieve, live in rocks, trees and bam- 
boos, and whose anger causes all their 
ills. They have no temples nor 
pagodas, but on simple shrines of 
bamboo offer sacrifices of domestic 
beasts and fowls. Before Christian- 
ity was brought to them they were 
utterly illiterate ; civilization had hardly 
touched them,—their highest ambition 
was eating and drinking. Yet they were free from caste, 
the curse of India; women were respected and not secluded; 
family life was honored; truthfulness was guarded by 
severe penalties; and the tribe had been kept from the deg- 
radation to which many savages had fallen. By intertribal 
warfare and frequent raids against their outside neighbors they 
had rightly won the title of “head-hunters,” yet they were, 
as a people, rich virgin soil for the planting of truth, 


A STRONG GARO FACE 


First Garo Converts 


The first effective move towards light and towards Christ, 
so far as we can trace it, was made when, in 1847, the Indian 
Government, in its effort to gain control of this troublesome 
tribe, opened a school for Garo boys at Goalpara, on the Brah- 
maputra River, about eight miles outside the borders of the 
Garo territory, with the purpose of educating a few young 
men and sending them back to civilize their tribe. While God 
was moving the government of India to take this step, he had 
prepared about twelve young men to desire the advantages 
of this school, a number of whom were among the first 
laborers in the Garo corner of the world vineyard. 


THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


UL 


Among these were Omed and Ramkhe, uncle and nephew, 
afterwards the first two converts from the tribe. Ramkhe, 
then only a boy, had a bright mind, and already had deep long- 
ings after something better than what the spirit-worship and 
the crude myths of his people could give him. He was eager 
at once to enter the school, but was refused permission by his 
parents until, in the providence of God, he fell irom sa” tiee 
and broke his arm. Being, in consequence, of little value in 
farming, he was permitted to go to school. With intellectual 
enlightenment came an intense restlessness, and a con- 
viction that there must be one great God over all. He first 
thought that he had found him in one of the Hindu deities, of 
whom he read. Soon, however, a little tract left by a touring 
missionary from Bengal revealed to him the true God. 

After a few years, the school was discontinued, but Omed 
and Ramkhe, unwilling to go back to their benighted people, 
settled among the inhabitants of the plains, where they joined 
the police service. The environment of this work was far 
from helpful morally, and the spiritual enlightenment which 
Ramkhe had received became dimmed. Years later, in Gauhati, 
their old longings 
were revived. 
They sought in- 
struction from a 
native evangelist 
there, and soon 
accepted Christ. 
ibhen, and t hen 
only, were they 
ready to go back 
to their own peo- 
ple. The darkness 
and savagery 


which had _ once HEATHEN GARO WOMEN 
Le pe lled them Notice the earrings which are characteristic of the Garo 
now drew them. women. They are of brass, a quarter of an inch thick 


and from three to six inches in diameter. Thirty are 


ay es 
They were | of worn on each ear, weighing all together five pounds. 


tized in 1863 by 

Rev. Miles Bronson, D.D., then our missionary in Nowgong, 
resigned their government positions, and under Dr. Bronson’s 
supervision, were soon among their own people, Omed as an 


6 THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


evangelist and Ramkhe as a Christian schoolteacher. God richly 
rewarded their labors, and after four years Dr. Bronson was 
called to baptize forty-seven converts, and to organize the first 
Garo church. During this year, 1867, Rev. and Mrs. I. J. 
Stoddard took charge of the Garo field at Goalpara, and Rev. 
M. B. Comfort began Garo work at Gauhati. 

Some years later work among the Garos on the plains of 
Mymensing was commenced by the English Baptist Mission. 
The work was afterwards made over to the Australian Bape 
They now have a prosperous Garo Mission. 

During the same year in which Mr. and Mrs. Stoddard took 
up work at Goalpara, the government, hoping to control the 
Garos, stationed a few officers with a military force at Tura, 
in the heart of the hills. In 1870, proposals were made to the 
missionaries in Goalpara that Tura be occupied as a mission 
station and that a medical missionary be sent there, the goy- 
ernment to give a grant towards his support; the station was 
not opened, however. 

After a bloody raid for heads against the people of the 
plains in 1872, a military force was despatched into the inter- 
ior, and the tribe was quickly brought under British control. 
The government urged at once the prosecution of educational 
work, and again recommended the placing of a missionary in 
the center of the hills, at Tura. Rev. M. C. Mason, D.D., and 
Rey. E. G. Phillips, D.D., with their wives, joined the mission 
at Goalpara in 1874, and two years later Mr. and Mrs. Phil- 
lips occupied Tura, Mr. and Mrs. Mason following in 1878. 


Educational Work 


As soon as the tribe was taken over in 1873, the 
Indian Government, as it is wont to do in such circumstances, 
made preparations to educate the new charge. The officials 
realized, as the chief commissioner of Assam put it, that “It is 
difficult to convince a Garo or a Khasi... of the advantage 
of learning. The only lever that has been found effective is 
that of religion.” In other words, the government considered 
that a Christian education was the kind needed for the Garos, 
and that the missionaries were the ones to give it; consequently 
grants-in-aid were given to the mission schools. 

There are now over 125 of these schools, all taught by 


THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS i 


Christian men, whose support comes, in part, from the peo- 
ple they serve. In many cases the conversion of the commun- 
ity has begun in the school, and often the desire for religious 
instruction has been the motive for seeking the teacher. 
The school taught by Ramkhe, into which he strove to in- 
stil his own devout spirit, was soon developed into a training 
school for teachers, evangelists and pastors. For a part of 
the time a similar, though smaller, school has been conducted 
in Gauhati. One is also conducted by the Australian Mission. 


STARTING ON TOUR 
Touring is quite an undertaking in Assam. The missionary must carry tent, 
bedding, chair and table, food and books, requiring the services of many Catriers, 
The cost of these, however, is small. 

The original one, early removed to Tura, has advanced to the 
grade of a middle English school, with an attendance of about 
250 pupils. Already some of the best of the young men are 
asking for a high school. 

The problem of the support of pupils was at first met by 
stipends; but this practise has now been discontinued, and the 
mission strives to supply opportunities whereby pupils, by 
about four hours’ manual labor each day, may earn enough to 
meet their necessary expenses. In addition to employment 
about mission premises and buildings, a cotton-ginning plant is 
being developed, where a machine run by foot power is prov- 
ing very useful in ginning the short staple cotton, grown exten- 


8 THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


sively in the hills. With funds specially contributed by 
friends in America, a kerosene engine has been procured, to 
be used in place of foot power, and a permanent ginning plant 
is being built. The proceeds will usually meet the running 
expenses of the ginning, but. it is hardly anticipated that the 
industry will soon become a paying business financially. Never- 
theless, it is firmly believed that it is a profitable investment of 
missionary energy and funds. It is believed that the pupil who 


SCHOOLBOYS AT TURA 


The results of education are strikingly evident in this picture. 
Moreover, it is a Christian education, fitting the young men 
and women receiving it for real service to their people. 


works his way through school leaves with a stronger character 
than one carried through by funds not his own. Experience 
is confirming this belief. Character is what is sought. 

The religious teaching, which is a regular feature in these 
training schools, is supplemented to a small degree on the Tura 
field by workers’ institutes, held for a few days in the cold 
season at a convenient time and place. The missionaries, 
however, feel strongly that the special prepa ration for pastoral 
and evangelistic work has been very inadequately done. A 
special school for Christian workers, a theological school, is 
urgently demanded. 


THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 9 


Literature 


With the evolution of a Christian community among a 
people where the’ medium of teaching is a language at first 
unwritten and without books, the development of a Christian 
literature is imperative. To neglect this is to produce spirit- 
ually undeveloped weaklings. At present the output of liter- 
ature is painfully insufficient. The New Testament and Gene- 
sis have been translated, and parts of them several times re- 
vised. A hymn book and a tune book, a few religious tracts 
and catechisms and several text-books have been published, 
also a monthly periodical, The Garo’s Friend. More of the 
Bible is needed, more text-books, more books of a general char- 
acter, and the working force should be strong enough to allow 
some of the missionaries to give time to the preparation of this 
needed literature. 

The demand by the Garos for literature and school sup- 
plies has developed a fund, by the aid of which it is hoped 
that this department may be, aside from missionary labor, 
largely self-supporting. The work has been hampered hitherto 
by want of suitable housing and conveniences. This need has 
now been met by the erection of the Lucy Smith Memorial 
Library, a generous gift of Dr. Stephen Smith of New York, 
the father of Mrs. W. C. Mason, of Tura, in memory of her 
mother. It is proposed that this shall not only accommodate a 
library and reading-room developed in keeping with the needs of 
the native community, but shall also house the book department. 


Medical Work 


Up to 18099, the medical work for the mission in Tura was 
done by the general missionaries, aided at times by the govern- 
ment medical department in Tura. In that year Rev. G. G. 
Crozier, M.D., joined the mission. There have been obstacles 
to overcome in winning the way for foreign medical treat- 
ment, and in Tura the work was hampered by want of. suit- 
able hospital appliances; but people learned that Dr. Crozier’s 
medicines were better than sacrificing to demons, and so large 
has become the demand for his help and so ready are the 
people. to pay for what they get, that the work, aside from 
buildings and his salary, has become self-supporting. A part 
of his task consists in training natives in medicine, and with 
them doing much medical evangelistic work throughout the 


IO THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


district. With the completion of a fine hospital at Tura, the 
outlook for medical work is full of promise. 


Religious and Church Life 


It would probably be impossible to find a community whose 
entire life is ideally religious. It was so when the Christiana 
church was young, 
and is so in Garo 
land. While we 
shall not find per- 
fection in the re- 
ligious life of these 
just out of savagery, 
there is much that 
shows the power of 
the gospel of Christ 
to transform and to 
save. Throughout 
the large and grow- 

i ing Garo Christian 
A CHRISTIAN GARO FAMILY community, the wor- 
The Christian homes are the hope ofthe Garos. These ship of God and 
centers of influence are rapidly increasing throughout Christ has taken the 
eee place of fear- 
prompted sacrifice to demons; total abstinence from intoxicants 
has supplanted drunkenness; society is being transformed; the 
clouds of heathen darkness have lifted and the floods of God’s 
light give them clearing visions of the unspeakably grand in- 
heritance that lies before the people of God. 

The churches have been developed in independence, both 
in matters of discipline and in the support and conduct of the 
work, The missionaries have regarded themselves as helpers 
of churches, rather than as helped by them, and counted 
those they employ as “workers” rather than “helpers.” The 
Garo Christians have shown an encouraging degree of initia- 
tive ability, in educational affairs, church activity and the or- 
ganization of work in general. Examinations for baptism and 
membership and the discipline of members is conducted inde- 
pendently of the missionary, and much care is exercised. 

Thus far there has been, on the Tura and Gauhati fields, 


THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS II 


a reluctance on the part of the native Christians to organize 
many small churches. The 4,500 and more communicants in 
the Tura mission are organized into sixteen churches. These 
are sub-divided into branches in the different villages. These 
branches unite in choosing and supporting the pastor and in 
deciding other matters pertaining to the whole church, while in 
questions that belong only to their branch they have a degree 
of independence. The churches support their pastors and meet 
all the church expenses, besides contributing, in nearly all 
the villages, towards the support of the day schools. In some 
of the smaller churches, the schoolteacher is pastor, and as 
such is in part paid by the community he serves, Mission 
funds pay for no pastoral work, and for no buildings for any 
purpose, church or school, save at the mission station. 

All the churches are organized into an association, which 
meets annually, for the consideration of important matters of 
interest to the whole body. At this meeting the whole field 
is reviewed; the location of schoolteachers and the appoint- 
ment of associational evangelists for the coming year is thor- 
oughly discussed; and Sunday school, foreign missionary work 
and other matters of importance are considered. Hundreds 
attend these meetings, some ’delegates walking more than one 
hundred miles each way. 

As. the heathen Garo women have been accustomed to 
interest themselves in public matters, so the Christian women 
are ready to take a lively interest in the things of the King- 
dom. They have their women’s meetings, officered and well 
conducted by women, where papers are presented on topics 
of special interest to women. In many villages weekly wo- 
men’s meetings are held. The women also contribute directly 
to evangelistic work, many laying aside each meal-time a hand- 
ful of rice for this purpose. In this way as many as ten evan- 
gelists have at one time been maintained. In the greater 
part of the village schools, and in the Tura training school, 
coeducation is successfully practised, and a good number of 
girls have completed the full course. 

Young men have annual meetings in conjunction with as- 
sociation meetings, and in many places have weekly young 
men’s meetings. Connected with the Tura training school is 
a Young Men’s Christian Association. The young men are col- 
lecting funds for some special work, not yet determined. 


[2 THE GOSPEL AMONG THE GAROS 


The evangelistic spirit among the churches manifests it- 
self both in efforts to reach the unevangelized in their own 
tribe, and to carry the gospel to other tribes. For several 
years the churches on the Tura field maintained a Garo mis- 
sionary to the Daphlas, in upper Assam, and also have done 
mission work for the Rabhas, a neighboring tribe. Serious 
obstacles are hindering the Daphla work, but the purpose of 
the Garos to prosecute foreign mission work has not been 
abandoned. 

Wide fields are open to the Garos. If they can be ade- 
quately instructed, and rightly led, there are splendid possi- 
bilities before them. They néed to be filled with the Spirit. 
and then God not only will make of them, from a tribe of 
head-hunters, a tribe Christianized, cleansed, civilized, a bright 
trophy of his grace in Christ, but will use them for his glory 
in establishing his kingdom in central southern Asia. 


A VILLAGE CHAPEL 


Not particularly attractive in appearance, yet prized by the congrega- 
tions, houses of worship like this are to be found, in increasing 
numbers, in the villages of the Garos. 


740-1 Ed-5 M-July, 1908, Price, 5 cents; 50 cents a dozen 


